Author: admin

So the full bill doesn’t really matter, because this month wasn’t a full month on the “Time of Use” billing / CleanChoice option and the price per kilowatt hour changed mid-month because of changing suppliers, etc… BUT the important statistic off of this month’s bill is WHAT TIME OF DAY did the majority of my billing occur?

In rough terms, “OnPeak” hours (KWH) will cost double what the normal rate used to be, OffPeak hours will cost roughly the same as before I made the switch, perhaps 5-10% more than they used to cost, and SUPER OffPeak hours will cost about 50% of what they used to cost.

And as we can see in the picture, the extreme majority of my KWH usage came in OffPeak or Super OffPeak hours. So early signs indicate that the move to “Time of Use” billing for someone like me who will be charging an electric car overnight will be a very wise move!

Other than that, a simple $3.00 ‘service fee’ type of charge for going with CleanChoice energy, and elsewhere on the bill was a 5 cent charge for a “solar requirements charge” which – SURPRISE, is actually on EVERYONE’s bill every month and is described as “Charge to acquire Solar Photovoltaic Alternative Energy Credits to comply with the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act.”

Well, I may not be much, but I’m a man of my morals.

Did 2 things today: 1 signed up for variable rates based on time of day, 2, signed up for renewable-only energy through Clean Choice (Solar, Wind).

Now I’m not an idiot… the power delivered to my house is STILL from coal fire, or honestly most likely hydro-electric from Niagara Falls… but, according to the Clean Choice website: “When you become a customer of CleanChoice Energy, you’ll be supporting clean, renewable energy sources, from wind and solar, every time you pay your power bill. CleanChoice Energy purchases renewable electricity on behalf of our customers, in the form of grid power plus renewable energy certificates (RECs). We also work to support the growth of the renewable energy market, using the power demand of our customers.”

ALSO their choice of energy supplier they are buying certificates from is just as important:

“CleanChoice values relationships with like-minded businesses and organizations. We will preferentially work with Certified B Corporations, Green America Gold Certified Businesses, and SBA certified small businesses. We also seek to work with businesses that include one of the following Supplier Diversity classifications: Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE), Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE), Veteran-Owned Business (VBE), and Physically-Challenged Business or Disabled Business Enterprise (DBE).”

(c’mon, you can figure it out… when was the last time someone made you solve a rebus?).

In all of 2022, my average monthly electric bill was $59.33 per month. My average cost of gas for the car only (remember, I tried my best to EXCLUDE gas purchased for the motorcycles), was $246.06.

In the 5 months I have owned my electric car, my average electric bill has been $139.18. Gas, obviously, has reduced to $0.

This means that although my average monthly electric bill has gone up by $79.85, my over-all monthly expenses have gone DOWN by $166.21.

I haven’t had any problems or been stranded or anything by this car even once.

Electric Car Update!

This weekend will be 3 months that I’ve had the car. My most recent electric utility bill was $132.12. I may have turned my home air conditioner on one time during that, so we’re not anywhere near “MAXIMUM POSSIBLE BILL” just yet – we should see that soon though. Either way, I’m still WELL under the line of “$250 electric bill = break-even.”

I’ve had the battery as low as about 6%. I believe once you hit 4% it enables “turtle mode,” where a small turtle icon appears on the screen, it limits your speed to a maximum of 55MPH and reduces things like air-conditioning and fan speed. But I haven’t had to worry about it. I planned my routes, got to charging stations, and had zero issues.

Last night it was over 75 degrees inside my house so I turned on the air conditioner around 9:45PM. My car was also scheduled to start charging at 10PM. This was going to be the biggest single power draw on the house since I bought the car – but there were no problems at all. No tripped breakers, nothing caught fire, no issues at all.

The honeymoon phase hasn’t worn off, yet. Still loving the INSTANT 300HP/300LB-FT of torque… but I also love my motorcycles. Every day is a challenge in deciding which vehicle I’m taking to work, because they’re all exciting!